


the language of me and you

by aliaaaaaa



Series: webgottrash tumblr prompts [17]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:10:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6462562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliaaaaaa/pseuds/aliaaaaaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Dummkopf,” Liebgott murmured under his breath and David didn’t say anything even though his tutor just called him a blockhead because it was his fault for coming late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the language of me and you

**Author's Note:**

> an anon wanted an AU where Web is a German student but his speaking skills are weak, so he's partnered with a language oral tutor and ends up with Lieb. It's a love/hate turns to love/love relationship. It's gonna be hot, complete with winky face. 
> 
> here's my take as per usual it is shitty and not enough hotness.

Language was something that David was always fascinated with.

Since he was small, he loved to crack open the dusty old tomes in his father’s library and studied how certain words were pronounced in certain languages.

Spanish. French. German.

He fell in love with the German language, when his grandfather sat him on his cushy lap and taught him how to pronounce words like ‘besorgt’ (worried), ‘wutend’ (angry), ‘hassen’ (hate) and ‘liebe’ (love); how bitte can carry several meanings for such a short word.

Although the vocal press was harder on his voice box, he thought that the language sounded very beautiful to his ears – the short, clipped words rolling off his tongue easily as his grandfather coached him.

After his grandfather passed away, David didn’t have anyone to practice his German with and the language was slowly forgotten in a way that if he heard someone speaking it, he would only remember bits and pieces and wouldn’t be able to fully form a sentence.

The interest renewed when he entered college; he had signed up for German Language Study partly for his love of the language, partly also as his way to remember his late grandfather.

It was a very tough course – even for beginners class – David couldn’t keep up with the syllabus especially during speaking class and he was frustrated and desperate.

“Just go to the Student Center and get someone to tutor you,” Lewis said while he was perched on the windowsill, trying not to set the fire alarm off by smoking outside of its range.

“Isn’t that where you met Dick?” David asked, crumpling the paper that he had used to list down words that he couldn’t pronounce properly.

“He was looking for someone to tutor him in French, so I volunteered,” Lewis flicked the ashes from the cigarette.

“You don’t speak French,” David said, looking at Lewis skeptically.

“Yeah well, Dick figured that out 10 minutes into the tutoring but then he asked me out. So it’s not so bad,” Lewis grinned when David threw the crumpled paper his way, murmuring ‘you shameless imbecile’.

“Look, just go down there and check the board. Someone is bound to want to make extra cash by tutoring German,” Lewis suggested.

“Fine,” David conceded.

*

When David entered the Student Center, the first thing that he noticed was Malarkey flirting with the girl who was manning the counter.

“Malark,” David said, tapping him lightly on the shoulder.

“Ey, Web! What brings you here?” Malarkey turned his attention to David and the girl moved away from the counter, unnoticed by Malark.

“Looking for someone to tutor me in German,” David informed him, eyes already zoomed in the at board for any German Language tutoring.

“German huh? Still can’t speak it fluently?” Malark asked, checking his phone.

“Yeah. Kinda hard to follow the class when I am shit at speaking the language,” David murmured and sighed when he saw no ads for German language tutoring.

“Tell you what, Imma give you my friend’s number and you can ask him to tutor you,” Malark said, still fiddling the phone, scrolling the names in his contact.

“He’s good?” David asked skeptically.

“The best. His parents are of German descendants, so he grew up with the language,” Malark informed David then scribbling down the numbers at the back of David's hand.

*

David was late for his first tutoring session. He was late because Lewis thought it was a great idea to lock him inside the shower stall and he had demanded David to tell him where David hid his pack of cigarettes.

After much screaming and threats being delivered, he told Lewis that he hid his fucking cigarettes behind his Shakespeare Anthology.

And now David was so late and it wouldn’t leave a good impression on his German Oral language tutor, Joe Liebgott.

He had texted Liebgott to ask if he was available to tutor him in speaking German and at first, Liebgott was hesitant, saying that he was busy with his Maths and Statistics classes but when David said he will be paid and that money was not the issue, Liebgott had readily accepted the offer.

When he arrived at the library, David was frantically searching for Liebgott who said he would meet him at the German language section.

Sure enough when he got to the aisle, there was a guy who was sitting at the table; and he looked annoyed.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” David apologized, still out of breath and trying not to flinch when Liebgott leveled him with a glare.

“You’re 15 minutes late,” Liebgott drawled, making a show of tapping his wrist watch.

David didn’t say anything, he pulled the chair opposite of Liebgott out and took out his notepad.

“Dummkopf,” Liebgott murmured under his breath and David didn’t say anything even though his tutor just called him a blockhead because it was his fault for coming late.

“So, you have difficulties in speaking German,” Liebgott asked, tilting his head a bit to the left and tapping his fingers on the table.

There were two things that David noticed about Liebgott - 1. His eyes were sharp and knowing, 2. His hair flopped over his forehead and he kept brushing them, 3. He was cute in this aloof, mean kinda way.

“Yeah, couldn’t pronounce words properly without sounding weird,” David said, looking at Liebgott looking at him.

“Say something in German,” Liebgott commanded and David gaped for a full minute before he opened his mouth to speak.

“Entschuldigung, dass ich mich verspätet habe. Ich werde danach pünktlich sein ( _Sorry I’m late. I will be on time after this_ ),” David said softly, aware that his pronunciations were wonky and that he had butchered the grammar.

Liebgott smirked, but he nodded his head. “Well, you basically got some words right. Just have to fix your pronunciation a bit. Annnd your grammar.”

They spent the next 45 minutes talking to each other; or to be accurate, David talked and Liebgott laughed at his accent and choice of words.

“Was ist dein Lieblingsbuch?” ( _What is your favorite book_?) Liebgott asked when David told him that he was studying English Literature and David answered, “zu viele zu wählen.” ( _Too many to choose_ )

“Wie ist es mit Ihnen”? ( _How about you_?) David asked back and Liebgott tapped his red lips before answering in English, “Dick Tracy, and Flash Gordon mostly.”

By the time the session came to an end, David was ready to tell Liebgott that perhaps this arrangement was not favorable for the both of them because obviously Liebgott was not a good tutor because he kept laughing at David’s accent – but before he could open his mouth to speak, Liebgott was already out of his seat, bag slung on his back and telling David to ‘don’t come late next time’.

*

“How was the tutoring?” Lewis asked as soon as David stormed inside their shares suite and screamed into his pillow.

“That guy is insufferable!” David screamed into his pillow.

“What did he do?” Lewis asked, already perched on David’s bed.

“He fucking laughed at me today when I read the passage from the exercise book and he kept on fucking laughing when I told him to stop,” David moaned in distress and even though Lewis always said that David was a drama queen, he didn’t like seeing his friend in distress.

“Hey come on, it can’t be that bad. Maybe he just wanted to make you feel at ease, so you don’t feel nervous to speak in German,” Lewis patted David’s leg in comfort.

David turned around to face his suite-mate and sighed, “Lew, you should see this guy, he’s pretty –,” David whispered the last part as if he was afraid that Liebgott would find out about David thinking of him as ‘pretty’.

Lewis smiled knowingly.

“So? He’s pretty and you have a crush on him. What’s the problem?” Lewis asked, prodding David’s leg with his fingers.

“Because he’s an asshole. He keeps making me look at his lips when he talks so I know how to roll my tongue properly and God, his fucking lips look so soft and red and it makes me want to kiss him. I am so fucked, Lew,” David moaned, burying his face at the crook of his arm as Lewis laughed at him.

*

It had been several weeks since David started taking oral lessons with Lieb (he was Lieb now because David had blurted it out one day and he didn’t seem to mind so the name stuck).

He had improved a lot with his German speaking skill that Lieb seemed proud of his teaching ability when David texted him to tell that his lecturer gave him a B+ for the speaking test as opposed to the usual C-.

Of course when they met for their tutoring session, Lieb was being smug about it.

“wie ist es mit Ihnen,” ( _Don’t look so smug_ ) David said and Lieb just grinned at him before speaking in rapid German – asking David to tell him about his day.

And David talked in slightly imperfect German with the accent that he couldn’t quite shake off and Lieb listened, looking at him with his soft chocolate eyes and smiling when David reminisced about his grandfather and how much he hoped that he was making his grandfather proud because he was busting his ass to learn German; laughing when David told him about Malarkey running around naked at the hallway because someone dared him to do so; once in a while correcting David on how to pronounce certain words properly, making David looked at his lips, how the red lips parted before Lieb wet his bottom lip with his tongue and David had to blink a few times.

David also noticed that Lieb kept looking at his lips too but he just brushed it off – not wanting to hope – and knowing that Lieb was looking because he wanted David to pronounce the words correctly.

When the session was over, Lieb handed him a book from his bag.

“What’s this?” David asked, looking at the cracked spine and the yellowed pages when he flipped it open – it’s a book – and from the look of it, it was a well-loved book that had been read many times.

“I want you to read the passage that I’ve marked for our next class,” Lieb shouldered his bag and looked at David. “We should study at the park since it’s springs now,” Lieb said, smiling at David before making his exit.

*

That night when Lewis had gone out with Dick, he lay on his bed and opened the book. He traced Lieb’s neat handwriting - ‘Property of Joseph Liebgott’ - before turning to the page that Lieb had marked.

Ich liebe es, dich sprechen zu hören, denn deine Stimme trägt etwas Magisches zu mir. Sie ist besänftigend und beruhigend und erinnert mich an zuhause. When deine Lippen sich öffnen, um Worte zu formen, will ich dich küssen bis wir außer Atem sind.

( _I love to hear you speak because your voice carries something magic into me. It is soothing and calming and it reminds me of home. When your lips part to form words, I want to kiss you until we are out of breath_.)

The passage ended there and David’s lips parted and he felt his heart hammering loudly because he was fairly sure that Lieb just confessed of wanting to kiss him.

*

Lieb was waiting for David in the park under the big tree – he was lying on his back on the picnic blanket and listening to some loud rock music when David plopped next to him.

Few students were there because it was during class hours but he saw Malarkey walking with Muck from a distance, laughing about something.

David was nervous the whole day, because he had the knowledge that Lieb probably wanted to kiss him but then again he might be wronged.

(Dick had assured him that maybe Lieb liked him like David liked him otherwise he won’t gave David the book where he specifically marked the passage. Lewis called his boyfriend a sap but he agreed with Dick’s explanation.)

Lieb was still listening to his songs when David fidgeted next to him, then he felt Lieb’s fingers tapping his arm.

“Lie down and look at the skies,” Lieb said, his voice raised due to the music in his ears.

David lay down next to Lieb, feeling excited and anxious, stomping down on the feeling of wanting to run back to his room and hide.

The skies were blue and the clouds were fluffy white cotton candies and Lieb’s arm were brushing his arm, it was comfortable.

And then Lieb moved to lie on his side, propping his hand under his head to look at David and he was feeling mildly anxious.

“Have you read the passage?” Lieb asked, voice low and soothing.

“Yeah,” David whispered, not trusting his voice to crack.

“Read it to me,” Lieb murmured, shifting a bit to get comfortable and David took a deep breath and closed his eyes, reciting word by word easily, because he had been reading the passage over and over and over until the words burned into his mind and consumed his dream.

“– Wenn Sie Ihre Lippen Teil Wörter zu bilden, möchte ich dich küssen, bis wir außer Atem,” David finished and he opened his eyes to see that Lieb was looking at him, a fond expression on his face, a soft smile that deepen his dimples; Lieb leaned down to kiss David gently on the lips, murmuring sweet words that were lost in David’s mouth and the words didn’t matter because here they were expressing themselves with the language of kissing.

**Author's Note:**

> first posted on [webgottrash](http://webgottrash.tumblr.com/post/142260979472/web-is-a-german-student-but-his-speaking-skills)


End file.
